Chapter-7 Golden journey to Goldenrod
Sam and Ralts are walking to reach Goldenrod city. They have to go through a thick forest called Ilex forest as they leave Azalea town.
"Wow, Ilex forest is really dense."
/Yeah, that much dense that its trees have blocked the light from entering here, its nught everytime, 24*7 here, whatever there is day or night out there./
"It is a bit scary in itself."
/I also think so./
"But we can't do anything. This is the shortest path to Goldenrod from Azalea."
/That's also true./ they both continue walking. There are several wild pokemons in the woods. Since its all dark there, the scene becomes more scary. Ralts grabs Sam tightly.
"Dizzy, don't worry, I am with you. I will not allow anyone to harm you."
/That's something assuring./. They both are walking when suddenly a group of Oddish appears and uses Leech Seeds on Ralts. Its vines cover her entire body and begin sucking out energy from her.
"DIZZY!", Sam shouts and runs for her. But before he can reach her, another group of Pineco corners him, he falls on the ground. He also tries to get another pokeball from his waist belt but Caterpies appear and uses String shot to throe away his waist belt from him. Now both of them are helpless, there is nobody to help them. Oddish uses Leech Seeds on him too. Vines begin to spread out and captures his entire body just like Ralts. It is sucking out energy from Sam. He is screaming in pain, while Ralts is watching all of this. She wants to help him but she herself is captured. It is untolerable for her to hear Sam's screamings in pain, his shouts are echoing in her ears, first she looks at him then to herself. She almost forgets her own pain when she looks at him shouting helplessly. All these things are driving her mad, then her heart stops, a tear comes out of her eyes, then she also screams,
/ SAM, I-I-I.../ then a white light begins glowing out from Ralts's body, soon her entire body is enveloped by that white light. It is unbelievable for Sam what he is seeing. Ralts's body begins to change its shape and gets bigger.
"Dizzy... wh-what the...", Sam stutters in shock and surprise. That white light fades away and there is standing a totally different pokemon in front of him. It has thin white legs and arms, green and white bodyy like she is wearing a frock, green hair with pink horns, unlike Ralts, her red eyes are visible, she is tall almost as Sam.
She then glares at all wild pokemons in rage who attacked them. She then uses Confusion which is far better and stronger than that of Ralts. It makes all the wild pokemons to run away in fear, while Sam is still staring at her in surprise. She frees him from vines of Leech Seeds and Sam is still staring at her. It makes her to blush a little, then she says,
/Its alright Sam, its me, your Dizzy./
"Dizzy?"
/Yeah, its me, you don't have to worry./ Sam checks his pokedex which tells,
"Your Ralts just now evolved into Kirlia. Like Ralts, she is also psychic type pokemon but more powerful and agile than her."
"Kir-Kirlia?"
/Yeah. I just evolved./
"Wow, you are amazing Dizzy, you just saved me, thank you very much Dizzy, thank you."
/Come on, we are friends, no need to thank./
"I am really happy Dizzy that you evovled. I am- I don't even know what to say."
/Hehehhe... Now get up, we still are on a journey. We can't afford to get late./
"Guess you are right." Sam stands up and they both continue their journey.
Finally, after Ralts has evolved and witnessing her new powers, sam is happy and confident that he will win against the Goldenrod gym leader.
After half-an-hour, they meet a man who is sitting on the ground with a depressed expression. Sam asks him,
"Hey you there, are you OK?"
"Huh? Ye-yeah, I am fine."
"But it doesn't seem like that."
"Well yeah, actually I am not."
"Let me introduce you first. I am Samuel Connor from New Bark town, Sam in short and she is my best friend Kirlia, and you?"
"I am Alex, I live in Azalea town. I make my livelihood by cutting trees from Ilex forest and selling them in the market. I work under my boss, he also lives in Azalea town."
"Then why are you sad?"
"I work with my boss's pokemon, but it is a naughty one, it doesn't obey me at all."
"Who is that pokemon?"
"It is a Farfetch'D. It often plays pranks with me, this time it has gone into the woods and I am not able to find it. Can you please help me to find it?"
"Of course we will. You just wait here and we will return with Farfetch'D."
"Thanks, it will be a great help." Sam and Kirlia leave Alex to find Farfetch'D.
Its been 15 minutes since they began searching.
"I don't want to say that Dizzy, but this pokemon is really good at hide and seek."
/I am also tired of it./
"Don't you have any idea how to find it?"
/Well I have one, but I don't want to say it either./
"Ohhh come on, now tell me."
/You can use that chicken if you want./
"Hmmm...'Chicken', you mean by Pidgey?"
/Yeah, yeah, that chicken./ then suddenly Pidgey comes out of her pokeball as usual.
"Good Pidgey, we were about to call you."
/Hmph...talk about the devil and here she comes./
"Hey psycho, are you saying something to me?"
"Yeah chicken, I am saying you something." Kirlia replies.
"Hey, you look different,... I see, so you have evolved. This means that you have now became a big psycho."
"Shut up!" Sam then interrupts their 'casual' conversation.
"Now now, I don't know what you guys are saying to each other but it doesn't seem like a friendly one. Can you please stop that and care more about the matter in hand?"
/Yeah I will./
"Pid-Pidgey." Both pokemons agree with their arrogance at its' peaks.
Pidgey understands the situation and begins finding Farfetch'D from above while flying. After some minutes, she returns and tells something to Kirlia.
/Sam, that chicken has found where Farfetch'D is./
"Good, now teleport us to that location and please, stop calling her that, afterall she helped us." Then Sam calls back Pidgey and she teleports themselves to he place where Farfetch'D is present. Sam tries to catch it but it runs away. They chase after it but it is too fast for them.
"Come on, first hide and seek and then this Tom and Jerry chasing, seriously? I am fed up with all of this." He continues chasing it. He tries to catch it but everytime he thinks he gets it, it runs away. Then Kirlia uses Teleport to capture it. She then quickly teleports Farfetch'D and Sam to where Alex is, but this time he is not alone. He is with a middle-aged man, probably his boss.
"Who is he Alex?" Sam asks him.
"He is my boss, now hand over his pokemon to him." he replies.
"Ohh, I see." Sam then hands over Farfetch'D to his boss.
"Hmm... I see, you are a kind person that you decided to help my sub-ordinate, I really like it." his boss tells Sam.
"Thank you sir, its not much of a big deal."
"Since you did that much for us, let me reward you something. Here take this HM01, it contains 'Cut'. It is a move by which my pokemon is able to cut trees. Teach this move to your pokemons and they will be able to cut through weak thin trees. It can also be used in battles."
"Wow, it really is amazing sir. Thank you very much." Then his boss checks his wrist-watch and says,
"Aaahhh... its already late, we have to return to the town now. Good-bye young boy, see you later."
"Bye sir." then he and Alex leave.
/Now, shall we continue?/
"Of course, our main target right now is Goldenrod city."
They both continue their journey after getting a special gift, Cut.
Soon after getting Cut HM, they make it out of the Ilex forest and arrives at the outskirts of Goldenrod city. There they find a house outside of which a wooden sign board saying 'Pokemon Day Care Center' is standing. Sam gets amazed by it. He decides to enter the house. He knocks the door and an old man opens it for them.
"Good morning sir." Sam greets him.
"Good morning. How can I help you?" he replies.
"Well, I don't really need help. I just want to know about this place."
"Ohhh... I see, you want to know about us. Come in, you will enjoy it." Sam and Kirlia follow them to the drawing room.
"What makes you to come here young boy?"
"I just want to know about this place."
"Hmmm... I see, so let's begin with introductions, I am Spring Field. I live here with my wife. We raise trainers' pokemons for the living."
"Ohh... by the way I am Samuel Connor from New Bark town and she is my best friend Kirlia, I call her Dizzy. Back to the topic, I don't understand what you just said about trainers' pokemons."
"There are pokemon trainers all around the world. As you know, mostly of them raise their pokemons with affection but sometimes if they find it difficult to raise a particular pokemon then they seek the help of people like us. They leave their pokemons with us and we raise them with love and care. They give us money in return when they come back to get their pokemon, that's how we make our livelihood."
"Wow, that's really an amazing way to earn money." Sam says. Then an old woman enters the room with the tray of tea in hand. She puts the tray on the table and says, "Here are some snacks for our young visitors." and she sits besides Spring. When Sam looks closely at her, she looks familiar. Then he remembers that she is the same old woman to whom they met in Cherrygrove City.
"Hey, are you the same lady from Cherrygrove city back then?"
"So, you do remember me."
"Yes, and your name is... Autumn, right?"
"Yes, I am Autumn Field."
"Now I understand why you are so experianced, you actually run this Day Care Center with Spring."
"That's right, we both have a lot of experiances with pokemons."
"Oh yeah... I just now remember something, can you 2 help me?"
"Just tell us what we have to do." Sam shows them the egg that he has got from one of Prof. Elm's assistants in Cherrygrove.
"This is a Pokemon egg. Prof. Elm got it from somewhere and he gave it to me to raise it properly." Sam says.
"Wow, its unbelivable. A pokemon egg? I wonder what will come out of it." Autumn says.
"Hmmm...it will still take some time to hatch." Spring says.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, besides I would advise you to stay here with this egg for some days."
"Huh? But why?"
"I think it will hatch in few days."
"Wow, it will be fantastic... OK sir, I will do as you wish."
"That's great. Now come with me, let me show you our backyard." Spring takes them to their backyard where lots of different kinds of pokemns are playing with each other.
"Wow, this scene is amazing." Sam says.
"Yeah, I know it." Spring replies.
"It will be fun living here." Sam and Kirlia spend the whole day in playing with other pokemons.
At night, Spring shows him his room. He enters his new room and lays down on the bed to rest.
"Oh jeez, today was really a tiring day."
/Yeah, it was./ she says while laying with him.
"I am also thinking about the egg. Is it really going to hatch soon as Spring told."
/Who knows? We just have to wait for the time being./
"Hmmm... by the way, seeing Autumn here in Goldenrod brings back our memories, our journey from Cherrygrove to Violet city, meeting Lee, getting Flash, defeating Falkner, winning his badge, visiting Ruins of Alph, all of it."
/Yeah, I remembered them too./
"Talk about Ruins of Alph, I still remember those strange Unowns."
/Well that was not a good memory./
"Yeah, but I still don't understand when they said 'Free them'. I really don't understand it at all."
/That was weird./
"Oh yeah, you screamed and fainted out when it all happened. What was that?"
/I don't want to talk about it./
"Ohhhhh... Please, at least let me know."
/I saw im-images back then./
"Images?"
/N-no, not really images, more of like fragments of something./, then Kirlia holds her head as she recalls those painful memories.
/I-I see fragments of some strange cre-creatures./
"Creatures?"
/Yeah, more like dogs. I saw 3 dogs, one in red, one in yellow, one in blue, they were also saying the same thing, 'Free us'. I don't understand it either what does it mean. I-I-I am s-so sorry./ she looks terrified when she tells all of this. Then 2 arms come and wrap her, it is Sam. He holds her in his arms and gives her a warm hug, he begins rubbing her head smoothly to comfort her.
"I am sorry that I made you to remember those things. If you don't want to remember, then forget them. But don't forget that I will always be by your side." Kirlia's face turns rose red.
/Sa-Sam I-I-I.../
"Shhhhhh...don't say anything. Just rest for now."
Kirlia is really happy that she is in his arms, being comforted by him. It makes her so much happy, she feels cozy. Slowly and slowly, her eyes become heavy and she falls to sleep. He looks at her face and smiles. Soon, he also falls to a deep slumber. Both are now sleeping peacefully, in each other's arms.
Many days pass, they both are still staying with Spring and Autumn, playing and enjoying with their pokemons and making good memories.
One day, Sam and Kirlia are resting in the backyard under the morning Sun. Then Autumn screams and calls them to her room, "Guys, come here, hurry, come here." Sam, Kirlia and Spring go to her room hastily to see hat happens. When they reach there, they find Autumn staring at the egg,
"What happened honey?" Spring asks her.
"Just look, just look at the egg, it just moved." she replies in excitement.
"What? Really?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, I just saw." then that egg moves a little to-and-fro.
"Whoa, you are right, it is moving. I think it is going to hatch soon." Spring says.
"Really? I am so much excited." then the egg shakes again and continues moving. Everybody stares at it curiously. Its shaking is becoming more violent by each passing second, then cracks appear at its surface, everybody's stare becomes more wide. As cracks appear on the whole egg and its shell fall, finally a tiny pokemon hatches out of it. It looks same as the egg, white round body with colorful circles printed on it, its spiked head, tiny hands and feet are emerging out of the body.
"Chuki...Toriiiiiiiii" it says its first words to Sam. He is very happy and excited afte seeing it. He checks his pokedex which tells,
"This pokemon is a male Togepi. It is a normal type pokemon. Its shell is filled with joy. It is said that it will share good luck if it is treated kindly."
"Togepi, huh? Its so cute." Autumn says.
"Of course it is." Spring says. Everyone admires newly-born pokemon. Sam is also happy that he has got another pokemon of his own.
Next day, Sam prepares to leave Spring and Autumn for Goldenrod city.
"I am very thankful to you guys that you let us stay here." Sam says.
"C'mon, don't thank us. It was fun for us too living with you." Spring says.
"I am really happy that I met with you guys, you really taught me many are amazing at rearing pokemons. I wish I would be like you."
"Naahhh...its nothing like that." Autumn says.
"Now I should leave, good bye guys, see you again."
"Good bye Sam, we are looking forward for our next meet."
"Me too, bye." Sam and Kirlia leave them to continue their own journey, conquest of Johto League, in which Sam's next stop is to win the gym badge of Goldenrod city.
